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Hello to everyone! I wish I had time to write everyone emails, but this will have to suffice. Apologies in advance for spelling and grammar....

We've been in Uganda almost 4 days now, where we've been living at a sort of conference center just outside of Kampala. It's quite posh with dorm-style living, electricity, and showers. We get 3 delicious meals a day, plus morning and afternoon tea. I'm quite enjoying trying all the new foods. We get bananas at least once a day, and fruit with every meal. The main starches are matooke (fried? bananas - sometime with veggies, sometimes mashed) potatoes, rice, noodles, and chapatii (I think that's the Swahili spelling, I'm not sure what it is in Luganda). Topings are meat or curry vegetables (which are my favorite). Oh, or this delicious sauce that's made from g-nuts (ground nuts, but very similar to peanuts) and mushrooms. Tastes very much like peanut butter, and is very yummy. I most certainly won't go hungry here :).

There are 32 PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) in my group. We're from all over the US, all different ages, backgrounds, and interests. For anyone who says they're too old to do the Peace Corps I know at least 6 people who would disagree. And two are RPCVs (Returned PCVs) who were previously stationed in Africa. Everyone here is very nice, and I've really enjoyed the last week getting to know everyone. Tomorrow we're off to our homestays in a town outside of Kampala (see my mom's post...sorry).

The last couple of days we've been getting lectures about Uganda, the culture, the language, PC goals, the thousands of acronyms that seem to be a part of daily life here.

So, as I can't share it all - here's what I found most interesting:

in 1996 Presedent Museveni (sp?) announced UPE - Universal Primary Education for all Ugandana. But, there was no funding...so, in 1997 he said 4 kids from each family could go. Now, with familys of 8 this seems slightly unfair. now imagine a husband with 4 wives, or a husband with 5 wives. needless to say, before the year was out, all Ugandan children could go to Primary school. This caused a huge influx of students, and the teachers didn't know how to deal with it. The end result was a lot of students, few good teachers, and even fewer teaching materials. The primary ed volunteers are working with local teacher colleges and coordination centers that organize training for teachers in 15-45 primary schools each. They'll be helping come up with innovative teaching methods.

That started in 1997, in 2004 those students graduated and wanted to go to secondary school, so in 2007 secondary school was opened to all Ugandans. Secondary schools now face a serious shortage of teachers, esp. in math/science/IT. So, Uganda asked the Peace Corps for teachers. and that's why I'm here :). I still don't know what I'll be teaching, or where, and probably won't for a while, but it's nice to know more about the school system. Of course, this being the PC, it's all subject to change and I could be at at teacher's college...who knows!

I've got to run, so sorry for any and all grammar mistakes. Hugs to all from Uganda!